In our endeavor to define, abstract, and codify the broad underlying technical and social elements that lead to successful collaboratories, we will pursue a series of activities associated with several specific objectives:

1. The qualitative and quantitative study of collaboratory design and usage, examining  both technical and social aspects of performance. We will convene a series of workshops with a broad spectrum of collaboratory developers/evaluators, and systematically explore their experiences to develop generalizations. We will also conduct comprehensive studies of a select few collaboratories which are underway or concluded in order to establish a detailed picture of collaboratory workings.
   
   
   
2. Creation and maintenance of a Collaboratory Knowledge Base. Drawing on the work in (1), we will create a Web-accessible archive of primary source material, summaries and abstracts, and relevant generalizations and principles, a database of collaboratory resources, and other related material.
   
   
3. The abstraction and codification of principles, heuristics, and frameworks to guide the rapid creation and deployment of successful collaboratories. We seek to understand the complex interplay of technical and social factors that can lead to principles of design or customization. Codification of these principles will reduce the dependence of scientific collaborators on specialized collaboratory developers for building and deploying such tools. We also seek deeper understanding of the sociotechnical processes involved with collaboratory construction and use, both as an element of improving collaboratories and as a basic research goal.
   
   
4. The formulation of a components approach to collaboratory technology and guidelines for their use. Many collaborative technologies already exists, but not in a form that allows for easy configuration and customization by end users. We will develop technical specifications for such components, and work with commercial partners or open source developers to see that such components emerge. Our goal here is to lower the technical as well as the social barriers to participation in collaboratories.
   
   
5. The assessment of emerging collaboratory testbeds. To test our principles and methods, we will use new testbed projects to expand our knowledge of new technical capabilities and the social processes behind successful collaboration.

Learn about the Partner Organizations involved with this project